In each of the above U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,063,654 and 5,093,981 there is disclosed and claimed a method of making amorphous steel cores for transformers that involves making up packets of amorphous steel strip and then wrapping these packets about an arbor to build up a core form. When the core form is removed from the arbor, it has a window where the arbor was located, and the packets surround this window. Each packet comprises a plurality of groups of amorphous steel strip, and each group comprises many thin layers of such strip.
In the aforesaid U.S. Pat. No. 5,063,654, the groups from which the packets are assembled are derived from a single composite strip comprising many thin layers of amorphous steel strip stacked in superposed relationship. This composite strip is cut into sections of controlled length; two of these sections are stacked together to form a group, and the groups are stacked one upon the other to form a packet.
The method of U.S. Pat. No. 5,063,654 is relatively fast in operation and simple to implement because it assembles each packet and its constituent groups in a stacking location that is axially aligned with the composite strip from which the groups are derived. This is in distinct contrast to the method of U.S. Pat. No. 5,093,981, where each section of composite strip after being cut to length and axially advanced to a predetermined position, is transported laterally to a stacking location on a carrier. Laterally transporting the sections to their stacking location is a time-consuming operation and, moreover, requires relatively complicated apparatus for its implementation.